Sarasota Police no longer accredited

Chief Bernadette DiPino voluntarily withdrew from the reaccreditation process, citing issues that arose under former administration.

ELIZABETH JOHNSON LEE WILLIAMS

The Sarasota Police Department is no longer accredited after Chief Bernadette DiPino voluntarily withdrew from the reaccreditation process.

In a letter dated June 17 to the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation, DiPino — at the helm of the department since Dec. 31, 2012, as the force’s first female chief — cites issues that arose under the former administration.

“Recently, several issues of noncompliance in accordance with mandatory standards were identified,” DiPino writes in the letter obtained by the Herald-Tribune. “These issues occurred in 2012, under former leadership, and compliance cannot be proven or regained.”

The Sarasota Police Department has been accredited by CFA since 2002 — with reaccreditation in 2005, 2008 and 2012 — and was scheduled for reaccreditation in February 2015.

DiPino explains that the department is voluntarily withdrawing from the process and will file a new application. The Sarasota Police Department’s website still lists its accreditation.

Although the department would not elaborate on the areas of noncompliance to which DiPino was referring, City Manager Tom Barwin said the deficiencies had to do with use of force training, infectious disease management and an annual review of the property room.

“The use-of-force training occurred back in 2012 with the Great Recession,” he said. “If you’ll recall, virtually all training had stopped. That has been corrected.”

Barwin said the deficiencies were noted by the department’s accreditation manager, who had been preparing for the 2015 inspection.

“It was noted by SPD that several policy reviews and updates did not occur in a timely fashion, dating back to 2012,” the city manager said. “Unable to redo history, the chief decided to withdraw and begin a fresh application.”

The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, its counterpart in Manatee County, and departments in Bradenton, North Port, Palmetto and Venice are all CFA-accredited.

In addition to garnering community confidence, accreditation provides standards to measure and monitor a department’s performance while providing consistent and effective operations, CFA’s website states.

Insurance carriers sometimes offer discounts to accredited departments, and the status is also factored in when it comes to receiving grants.

Barwin said DiPino notified him of her decision to withdraw in June, about the time she sent her letter to the accreditation commissioners.

However, several elected city officials said neither DiPino nor Barwin alerted them of the withdrawal.

“This raises some serious questions about leadership. I am going to be asking some pretty serious questions and wanting answers,” Sarasota Commissioner Paul Caragiulo said. “With all the effort that’s put into putting out information to the public, why didn’t they choose this item? What happened here?”

Commissioner and former mayor Shannon Snyder said he was also not told about the the loss of accreditation.

“Things are so bad they have to pull out of the accreditation process and do the whole thing all over again because they can’t pass accreditation,” said Snyder, a retired Sarasota deputy. “There’s a problem here, and no one wants to address it. This is not what I’m used to, coming from the Sheriff’s Office.”

The Sarasota Police Department did not inform the public of its surrendered accreditation until Monday afternoon, after inquiries were made by the Herald-Tribune earlier in the day.

“It really came down to this was a look at the internal practices and processes within the police department,” agency spokeswoman Genevieve Judge said. “So it was an internal matter.”

DiPino declined an interview, but did make a statement in a news release that was drafted hours after the H-T inquiry.

“The Sarasota Police Department has a strong commitment to the highest standards and full compliance with the accreditation standards set forth by the CFA,” DiPino said.

“Although it is voluntary, achievement of an accredited status demonstrates our commitment to our community best practices, and it is our desire to reinstate that status as quickly as possible.”